Monday, June 29, 2009

My City Was Overrun By Advertising And All I Got Was This Lousy Poster

NPA City Outdoor, operating completely illegally in the city, wildposting our streets daily with giant posters now nearly 12'x6' in some areas, has made a poor attempt to convert their illegal signs into legal signs by offering their advertising posters at the businesses whose storefronts are used to house their illegal signage. This fantastically creative gesture is meant to legalize advertising billboards like the one pictured below.

Up until today I had not actually seen any of these raffle boxes. The idea behind them is that because the business to which this illegal advertising sign is affixed now offers the advertising posters free of charge as well as on a raffle basis, the sign outside is there to make the public aware that such a product is available at this location. NPA would argue this technically makes the advertisement part of a first party sign. Oddly enough, the product we are talking about is not what is advertised, rather it's the advertising posters themselves. The real informational sign is the small text telling you that you can "win these and other prizes inside". The posters themselves are merely examples of what the fantastic merchandise looks like that's available inside, much like the way Foot Locker puts shoes in the window. Similarly to a hardware sign helping me find out where I can buy a hammer, these illegal advertisements help me to know where I can get the below Hendricks Gin advertisement.

The scan below is of one of the raffle tickets, which you can fill out to win awesome stuff. Considering the empty raffle box at the deli I found this at, and the chances of someone actually submitting any tickets in these little boxes besides me, I expect to be receiving some prizes from NPA City Outdoor very soon. You gotta be in it to win it people.